1). Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluid delivery system, or fluid delivery system, of the kind that may include interconnected fluid control components such as valves, regulators, mass flow controllers, filters, and pressure transducers.
2). Discussion of Related Art
Fluid delivery systems, also known as fluid delivery systems, are used in, for example, semiconductor processing systems to provide predetermined gases or mixtures of gases at predetermined flow rates and predetermined pressures into a processing chamber. Various supply gases are connected to inlets of such a manifold, and one or more outlets of the manifold are connected to the processing chamber. Such a manifold system usually includes components such as valves, regulators, mass flow controllers, filters, and pressure transducers that are connected to one another over a two-dimensional area in a manner that will ensure delivery of the desired gases or mixtures of gases at the desired flow rates and pressures to the processing chamber.
Fluid delivery systems are frequently in the form of smaller components that can be mounted to a base mounting structure in a modular fashion to create a desired flow pattern between fluid control components. It has been found that maintenance to such systems is usually extremely cumbersome because the replacement of a single piece may require disassembly and reassembly of a large number of pieces, and usually involves the breaking of a large number of seals that are expensive to replace.